A new research project led by Janine Marchessault, professor in York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, is uncovering the little-known early history of IMAX – from its invention at Expo 67 to its transformation into a global cinematic phenomenon.
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, "IMAX: A Transnational History" is the first scholarly study to examine IMAX’s global expansion between 1970 and 1990 – formative decades that have received little critical attention.
Marchessault’s inspiration for the project began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was reflecting on the state of cinema. “There was a sense a few years ago that the collective experience was over, that going to the cinema was over,” she says. But as theatres reopened, she noticed audiences returning in search of something bigger – both literally and figuratively. “You could see the shape that IMAX was going to have post-pandemic. It’s an immersive experience you cannot get in your living room.”
That renewed interest in large-scale cinema led her to dig deeper into IMAX’s origins. What she found, surprised her. “There was no history of IMAX,” she says. It was a gap Marchessault sought to fill. “It’s important to understand how this uniquely Canadian invention became a major contribution to the history of immersion in cinema.”
Originally conceived at Montreal’s Expo 67 by Canadian filmmakers Graeme Ferguson and Roman Kroitor, IMAX revolutionized the moving image through its 70mm film format and monumental screens – often the size of eight-storey buildings – that captured and projected images with unprecedented scale and resolution. Today, IMAX spans more than 1,500 theatres in 80 countries.
Marchessault’s project explores how that international growth unfolded, leveraging a research team that includes York postdoctoral fellow Cameron Moneo, as well as Monika Kin Gagnon (Concordia University), Allison Whitney (Texas Tech University) and Jessica Mulvogue (St. Andrews University).
She and her research team are studying seven theatres chosen for their historical, technological and architectural significance, and for their place in national film cultures: Osaka, Japan; Toronto, Canada; San Diego, U.S.; Tijuana, Mexico; Bradford, U.K.; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Paris, France.
Each theatre serves as a case study for how IMAX spread across the world, but also how a Canadian technology was sold to other countries and adapted to local cultures and architectural traditions through the design of the venues and the movies they began to screen.
At the same time, the research project extends into several streams. Combining archival research, oral histories and creative practice, the project includes an artist-in-residence component led by filmmaker Oliver Husain, who is creating new works inspired by IMAX’s early innovations.
As part of this research, Marchessault and her collaborators – including the National Film Board of Canada, Ontario Place Corporation and IMAX in Los Angeles – are also restoring and digitizing early IMAX films such as Transitions and Labyrinth IV.
Labyrinth IV adapts the landmark on-site film project Labyrinth, created for Montreal’s Expo 67, which pioneered multi-screen projection and laid the conceptual foundation for IMAX’s immersive experience. Transitions, produced for Vancouver’s Expo 86, was the first 3D IMAX film, marking a technological milestone that fused massive scale with stereoscopic depth.
“What excites me most is returning these works to the theatres they were designed for,” says Marchessault. “Each cinema has its own architecture, acoustics and history – all of which shape how these films were meant to be experienced.”
One public extension of the research is the Outer Worlds Canadian Tour, launched this month by Marchessault and Christian Kroitor, grandson of IMAX co-founder Roman Kroitor. The tour presents five experimental films created by Canadian artists in 2018-19, marking the 50th anniversary of IMAX.
The program will screen in Edmonton at the TELUS World of Science on Oct. 9, before continuing in April 2026 with presentations in Victoria at the Royal BC Museum and in Sudbury at Science North, each followed by an artist and curator Q-and-A.
The project also sheds light on the overlooked contributions of women in IMAX’s formative years. “We’ve uncovered dozens of women who played crucial roles – as producers, event organizers, theatre designers, archivists and policymakers,” says Marchessault. “Their work has often been invisible, but it was essential to building the network that allowed IMAX to flourish.”
By making that invisible work visible – both the contributions of women and the early history of IMAX itself – Marchessault’s research reframes how this Canadian innovation is understood. What was once hidden in archives and overlooked in film history is now being restored, studied and shared, revealing how Canada’s creative and technological ingenuity helped shape global cinema.
With files from Alexandra Tucci